


Waiting on You

by orphan_account



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Origin Story, how Alice and Jasper meet and fall in love bascially
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25915396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alice is sent to an asylum where someone is trying to kill her. Jasper just wants to prove his devotion and worth. They both just want to find a place to belong and eventually find that with each other.on a long hiatus.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Alice

The water from the soft ground, the mud, was squishing up between my toes as it rained. It was an odd sensation, since I was sitting by the hearth as my mother sang me to sleep. I remember looking up into her eyes. I told her it was going to rain the next day and that we would need boots. She laughed as parents do when children say silly things and carried me to bed.

The sun was shining strong and bright the next day and it was so warm, that my mother refused to listen to my warning as I reminded her. We made it to the church and sat through the sermon as the dark clouds rolled in and the thunder started rumbling.

Not entirely unlike now. It was now closer to midnight than noon but the rain was coming down in buckets. Lightning flashed bright enough to light the whole town. The horses were skittish traveling the narrow, pitted road to our destination. I felt a loud boom of thunder and jumped, eyes wide, the sound seeming to reverberate in my chest.

The man next to me laughed. “You’re going to have to get used to loud noises where you’re going, missy,” he drawled. His tobacco stained breath made me recoil. “Taint going be like that fancy house you’re pa and ma was keeping.”

Tears mingled with the dirt on my cheeks. This wasn’t how life was supposed to go. It had been a good life. At least, my family and I were making the best of it until a year ago, anyway.

The man leered at me. “It’s a shame. It’s always the pretty ones what turns out off their rocker.” His gaze lingered, making my stomach clench. Another crash of thunder made me jump again, and again he laughed.

I pushed my mind elsewhere. My mother. God rest her soul, if my beautiful mother was still alive, I would not be here now. She would have saved me from this horrid fate. Maybe this was a punishment, then. God had given me this gift and shown me what was happening and I hadn’t acted as I should with the knowledge. I hadn’t saved my mother, and now I was destined to a fate worse than death with no chance of a savior for myself.

What could I have changed to save her? What could I have done that would have let her live? For years I had been pushing my gift down and away, hiding it. After all, it had rarely brought me anything but pain.

Sally Harker is standing before me, grinning as she shows me the ring Gordon Taylor gave her. She is chattering on excitedly. Her eyes are shining with hope and excitement, the birds are chirping in the trees, and her mood is nearly contagious. Nearly. Except there is a dark pit in my stomach. As much as I stamp it down, pushing and crushing and locking away, the dark pit comes and grows and I know what it means. The thoughts are in my mind, on my tounge, begging to be allowed to burst forth and tell Sally Harker all I know.

Except I don’t know. I have no proof, but I can see it clearly. Taylor will be in Greystone Asylum before they share two winters. The words spill out, unwilling to be contained any longer. Every time I think I’ve mastered myself, mastered my gift, it finds a new way to torture me. Telling Sally Harker, one of the few people kind enough to befriend me, what I know. Her face turns to cold stone and I know in that instant I’ve lost her.

Just like I lost my cousin who refused to listen to my warnings to not go west in search of gold. Just like my mother.

I choked back a sob. Maybe this was never the gift from God my mother always claimed it was. Maybe it was a curse from the devil, sent to assure not only my destruction, but everyone around me. Would my mother have been so desperate to see her friends that she didn’t notice the man coming for her had she not heeded my persistent warnings? But if I hadn’t warned her, I would have lost her so much sooner. It all goes around in a circle in my head. I’m only grounded when I remember that none of what is happening is my fault.

The past is easier to look back on. That is seen as clearly as a cloudless noon day. I didn’t blame myself for my mother’s death. That blame rests squarely on my father’s shoulders. He’s the one who sent the man to kill my mother so he could marry another woman. A much younger woman. He’s the one who tried to have that same man kill me. The only reason I’m alive is that I saw him coming with a knife and ran to those I thought would keep me safe.

I was wrong about that. No one cares about my safety. They only care that I’m out of the way. No longer a menace to the family name. No longer spouting off my witchery.

My poor sister, left all alone with those vile creatures. My sister, left with the cold woman who replaced out mother while our father continues to travel to sell his pearls. My father who hired a man to kill my mother to marry another woman. A woman who I know will share the same fate as my mother.

Another boom shook me to my core, but the man didn’t laugh this time. The buggy had stopped. “Out you get, then. Here we are.

My hands were bound, so I stumbled out into the rain. My clothes were soaked through before I could take two steps. Icy cold water ran down my back as I squinted up at the dark and imposing stone building. GREYSTONE ASYLUM was written above the entrance. Perhaps I should have taken the storm as an omen, but I didn’t. After all, I thought, how could it get any worse than this?


	2. Jasper

Living in Texas, the sun is always an ally to be kept at arm’s length. It brings life and light, but it scorches and burns, too. I never thought I’d see the day I would ever avoid the light completely. To think just three years ago I was a kid on the cusp of chasing greatness. Fighting for a life different than the one I was told to expect and to accept.

I was sixteen then. I’d gone three counties over just to sign up for the army. Everyone at home knew I was only sixteen and too young for the army, but here it was different. The war, the sides, they didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was getting out of the life being forced on me, and this was that way. Working in a factory day in and day out, coming home and hating my life to struggle to even feed my family was not the life I wanted. I hate watched my own parents happiness wither away as I grew older, and I didn’t want that fate for myself. My older brothers were already out in the factories and my younger brother was trying to convince our dad to let him quit school to go to work.

That would never be me. I wanted so much more. I wanted a life worth living.

So I ran off. Took just a little money and some clothes and a day’s worth of food. Even if this didn’t work, I couldn’t go back home. I wouldn’t go back home. I left my parents a note telling them I was joining the army and I was going to fight for Texas and that I would be home only after the war was over.

I had always been able to talk my way in or out of anything. Told the army man I was eighteen and ready to fight for the winning side and before I knew it, I had a uniform and was in the military.

Now I wasn’t afraid of hard work. I just wanted that work to mean something, so I put my all into my training. I was a big boy, and still growing, but I once I learned to fight I could take down men stronger than myself. As I grew it became easier. As the war really got started and we clashed with the Union soldiers, I worked my way up. I wasn’t going to stay as an enlisted man. I was an officer before I was eighteen.

I didn’t actually fight if I could help it. I didn’t want to die before I’d had a chance to live and I didn’t want to kill anyone. Doing what needs to be done is always part of the army, and I did some things that were not good, but most of the time I was able to work myself out of situations that were not favorable to me. Like I said, people like to do things my way. By the time I was nineteen, I was a major, the youngest the army had.

My men and I came upon a bunch of refugees who’s town was in smolders. We gave the folks some supplies and moved them to a new place, helped them get settled. I didn’t want any part of the war, but helping people was good.

As dusk settled, I took it upon myself to search for stragglers. I rode out alone on my horse. Just as the sun slipped down the horizon I saw three figures who seemed to be staring at me. It being my duty, I rode over to them and slipped off my horse.

One of the women stepped forward to greet me, and instantly I was stunned. She had curling brown hair and dark brown eyes that seemed to see me to my core. “Howdy, ma’am,” I said. I pulled off my hat and approached her. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She smiled at me, her white teeth gleaming. “Is it, now?” Her eyes locked with mine for a moment and I was struck still. “I’m Maria.”

“Major Jasper Whitlock. Do you ladies need any help?” I glanced at the two women with Maria, but my eyes kept being drawn back to her. “I just led some refugees to a safe town. I can take you there, too.”

Maria shook her head. “No. We’re hunting.”

Hunting? They didn’t have a gun between them. “There’s food in the town,” I reassured her.

“Yes, that is where we are going. Especially since you said you just restocked it.” She smiled again and my thoughts are gone. “We hoped you might me a treat, but I think not. You could be of use to me, Major Jasper Whitlock.”

The way she said my name made my heart beat faster. I swallowed. “I am here to help.”

Maria grabbed my uniform and pulled me forward before I could process what was happening. Her lips were on my neck, biting hard, and I felt blood running down my skin. The pain starts seconds later.

By the time the pain was over, it was dark, the stars shining down a glorious sight. They were clearer than I had ever seen them. I took a deep breath, only it doesn’t feel like breathing. I was pulling in air and it was coming out, but it didn’t feel right. My throat was so dry it hurt. Then a scent caught me, and I ran.


	3. Alice

The door slammed loudly, seeming to reverberate around the small room. I turned around from the blank wall in front of me, but the men were walking away. The room only had a mat on the floor. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and lowered myself to the filthy looking mat.

How could my own family have done this to me? My mother would have never stood for it. I didn’t want to stand for it. But what could I have done? Slam myself against the door? Yell and scream until my voice was hoarse? I could hear several others doing that same thing, and they didn’t seem to make any headway.

So I cried until. I cried for my mother. I cried for my sister. I cried for the family that had betrayed me. I cried for every wrong that had ever been brought against me. Every slice of unfairness. I cried until I was certain I couldn’t cry anymore. Just as I was considering succumbing to sleep, I hear a commotion across the hall. I walk to the door and peer out the little glass window. A figure cloaked in shadow is sneaking out of the room next to mine.

Then the familiar wave of danger comes. With it, flashes. That figure rushing to my room. That figure pinning me against the wall. I backed away as quickly as I could, landing with bruising force on my back when I tripped over the mat. But he didn’t come into my room. Not that night.

People, doctors I guessed, though no one ever told me, came and talked to me. I quickly found it didn’t matter what I said, how much I pressed, I would never be believed or released. The clothing they gave us was horrible, barely suitable to keep us decent. There was no separation of the sexes, men and women roaming wherever they wished. They force me to cut my hair to an unseemly boyish length, claiming the length could cause sickness. Most often we were put into large rooms with very little to do but walk around. I hadn’t seen daylight in over a week when they first came for me.

The woman, a nurse, came up and touched my arm. “We have your treatment ready. It’s time to go.”

“What treatment?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. Instead she grabbed my arm and we walked out of the community room and down a hall, two large men following along. My throat felt so constricted I could barely breathe. The visions kept coming. Myself screaming, writing on a table. Begging for the pain to stop. My breathing became rapid and the room started to spin.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on a cold slab of stone. “Passed out, you say?” a male voice said. I didn’t dare open my eyes. “Very well. May work better that way. At least she isn’t fighting us.” Someone forced my mouth open and shoved something between my teeth. Then came the pain.

It was fire and ice at once, everywhere on my body. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. When it was over I gagged on the object in my mouth, coughing and doing my best to curl into a ball.

“No, no, straighten back out, dear.” A female voice.

There was no way I could restrain the tears. “Stop that.” The voice was gruff. “Put this back in your mouth.”

I clamped my mouth shut, but hands forced it open and the object back inside. And then came the pain again. And then again.

After that, I was allowed to sit up and was lead to my room. I was shaking as I sat on my mat. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to exist.

So I slept.

That happened nearly every other day. The first time I couldn’t remember my father’s face, I was relieved. But then my sisters laugh left. A song my mother would tell me. I clung hard to my mother’s memories.

But I thought maybe the treatment was working. I hadn’t had a vision in over two weeks. Until the shadowy figure came back. I saw him come into my room, lower himself beside my mat, and bite my neck. I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t real. My visions were not real. I was not suffering this pain for it to not work. I was angry, so angry, that I stood and grabbed the wooden chair that was in my room, ready to smash it, when a better thought came to me.

I could use this to hit him. Another vision came as I made that decision. I would need to be on the left of the door because he would turn to the right. When he didn’t see me, I could smash the chair over his head and…

He didn’t fall.

But I didn’t see myself dying, either, so I stuck to the plan. I stood for hours waiting on him to come through the door. There was no warning when he did. It was completely silent and so fast that I nearly missed my window to hit him.

Just like in my vision, he didn’t fall. He turned slowly, his eyes glowing red. “Why are you there?”

I take a step back. “You’re going to kill me. I had a vision and you were going to kill me.” I shook my head. “I’m not insane. I saw you.”

He stood by the door in the near complete darkness. “I was.” He stepped forward and I stepped back. “I’m not going to hurt you now.” He took a deep breath. “Are you here because of your gift?”

Gift. He thought it was a gift. Someone in my life previously also thought it was a gift. I tried to think of who it was but all I got was a pain in my head, causing me to fall back against the wall. I raised my hand to my head. “Gift, curse, sign of the devil. Whatever you want to call my visions. I can see glimpses of the future.”

“How delightful.” He truly sounded excited to hear it. He gave me a smile. “I give you my word I will not harm you. Your power fascinates me.”

He left my room, securely closing the door behind him. Moments later a scream from a different part of the asylum. I pray that it is just the scream of insanity.

I laid trembling on my mat. Images flashed before my eyes. Another man at my home, sniffing the air. Running here, faster than anyone should ever be allowed to run.

And so much blood.


	4. Jasper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear what you guys are thinking of this fic so far! Feel free to leave a comment.

I didn’t have time to think about what I was running toward. I didn’t think at all, the scent overpowering every other function my body had. It pulled me forward in a way I had never experienced anything before. I didn’t just want it, I needed it. When I found it, found myself before one of my soldiers, I stopped.

“Major, the company is worried. We thought the north might have captured you.” Despite the claims, he kept his distance. His eyes were distrustful. “Why didn’t you come back?”

I didn’t answer him. A strong gust of wind blew, blowing with it that tantalizing scent. It was him. I gave in fully to my instincts, my hand clamping around his mouth and my teeth biting into his neck before he could breathe his next breath. I didn’t come to myself until his body was laying at my feet, white as a sheet and eyes wide in horror. I didn’t know what was happening or why it had felt so good. The dryness in my throat was gone, and I felt powerful. I felt more powerful than I had ever felt in my life.

Then I remembered Maria.

I made my way back to the cave. I was still alone, so I sat at the mouth and waited. I watched the stars, saw the horizon fade from black to navy to a light cyan. Maria came as the sun rose over the horizon. I stood to greet her.

“You survived. Good.” Her dark eyes took me in. “And you’ve hunted.” She brushed past me into the protection of the cave. I followed her. “We are to meet Lucy and Nettie at dusk. I have much to explain to you.”

That’s how I learned what I was, what Maria had made me. A vampire.

This wasn’t the life I had planned for myself, but hearing Maria’s plans, how she was fighting for something she believed in, how I could be instrumental in the success of her plans, that spoke to me. And so I followed her. Just like in the army, I earned her trust easily. Partially because I could train the soldier’s she was making, but also because we discovered my natural charisma had given me an advantage as a vampire. I could control how others felt, their emotions. I could relax humans as we decided if they were to be food or fodder. I could make our enemies doubt their anger. I willingly became Maria’s best weapon.

As with my service in my previous life, I didn’t care about the goal we were reaching for. I cared about myself and about Maria. Everything I did was for us. Training the newborn vampires, destroying the ones who became too old and weak. Giving orders and fighting. It was all for her, for myself, for the empire I could see us building.

Nettie and Lucy had other plans. I could feel it coming off of them. They began to despise Maria, to question her wisdom. I could tell when their resentment turned to rage and then a cool fire, and I knew they were planning a coup. I told Maria and, rather than confront them, she and I just destroyed them. It was an easy fight, especially with me by Maria’s side. We watched, side by side, as they were reduced to ash.

Shortly after that, I found among the newborns another man I like myself. He only wanted to do what we were made to do, and do it well. I convinced Maria to keep Peter well beyond his newborn time, as a boon to myself. He rose up with me, training the ever changing sea of faces in our army and destroying the ones who had served their usefulness. It was drudging work made worse by my ever darkening mood. Still, I had Peter and I had Maria, and we were doing well, so I thought Peter and I were on the same page.

That is, until he found Charlotte. Peter had a fascination with the newborn, wanting to let her live. I assumed it was the same as I felt for him, that she would be a good companion to have as we endured, but Maria would not hear of it. She said for our coven, the three of us would be enough. So when it came time to destroy the year-olds, Peter was by my side. We brought them in one at a time, claiming evaluation as they were sent out on their own.

I was the one to retrieve Charlotte. We were just walking through the door when Peter yelled at her to run and chased after her. I watched them until I couldn’t see them any longer and then turned to retrieve the next to be destroyed.

After Peter left, the dark feelings grew. I stayed with Maria less out of love and more out of habit. I trained newborns, I hunted, and I destroyed those who needed destroying. I did not find another friend like Peter, nor did I look for one. I let my mind swallow me completely, let the darkness consume me. The darkness didn’t make Maria happy.

Maria’s feelings toward me had changed. No longer did I feel positive emotions when she saw me. Happiness had given way to fear, appreciation to malice. A fight was coming, so I tried to formulate a plan. I had size on her, and skill. I was confident I could win, but I knew she had her own advantages and secrets she could use from being long lived.

I was hunting, preparing to ambush her, when I stumbled upon Peter again. He was alone, but I only had a second to wonder where Charlotte had gone.

“Jasper,” he said. “Come with me. Come away from Maria, from all of this. It’s different out there. Better. Not all covens are constantly at war or fighting each other. Come join Charlotte and I. ”

I could tell Peter had more he wanted to say, more reasons for me to follow him, but in truth I didn’t need them. “I’ll come,” I told him. And so we left.

Peter wanted to go back and destroy Maria, but I didn’t see the purpose. We were meant to be leaving this behind, so we left her, too. She didn’t give chase, and for that, I counted myself lucky. I was tired of destroying and the more peaceful life Peter talked about was something I wanted to start immediately.


	5. Alice

The shadowy figure had a name, as it turned out. Richard. Not the name I expected him to tell me. I felt like it was a lie, but I was not going to question him on the matter. The next night, Richard came and talked to me for hours. My memories are going so quickly now, I hardly remember what I was so sad about before. But I remember the sadness. Richard brings little trinkets every night in his pocket, wanting me to guess what he’s brought. I need only to concentrate on what they are to see him putting it in his pocket around sunset.

Today he had brought a candy, which he gave to me once I guessed correctly. “Have you had any new visions lately?” he asked. He always asked this question. I always lied and said no, but today I hesitated.

“Yes,” I said. I kept my eyes trained on the ground. “There’s a man with blonde hair. He’s in a town he sniffs the air and then he runs – he runs so fast, Richard. So impossibly fast. Then he’s here, and he is also trying to kill me.” My eyes flick up to his face. “I don’t know when, but he wants me dead.”

Richard nodded. “I see.”

“I don’t.” I stood from my seated position, barely bringing myself above Richard’s eye level. “Why is it that I am a target? Why did you want to kill me?”

The silence between us was heavy, but I refused to be the one to break it. Richard had stilled so much I feared he died, but finally I see him breathe. “There are beings beyond humans, do you know? I am not talking witchcraft and the silly women peddling themselves as psychics. Something truly other. Creatures who are immortal. Live forever. Feast on human blood.”

I nodded . “I have read Dracula. You don’t expect me to believe vampires exsist, do you?”

“I do, considering you’re speaking to one.” His lips twitched, as if to smile before thinking better of it. “I can hear your heartbeat.” He pats out the beat, each one getting faster as I felt my heart begin to race. “I can hear your breathing, smell your blood. And your blood smells delicious. Since the night you arrived, I wanted to taste it.”

I cursed the question that came from between my lips. “Why didn’t you?”

“Your gift.” His red eyes met mine. “Tell me, if we were to leave, now, would the hunter still find you?”

I shook my head. “I can’t know. I can’t just use my gift at will.”

“Have you tried?”

So I did. I closed my eyes and pressed my mind forward, searching. And found myself and Richard in a forest, and then the hunter upon us.

On a night-covered beach. And the hunter upon us.

On a snow capped mountain.

On a sailboat.

On a train.

Always, the hunter.

“There is no getting away,” I whispered, terror filling my voice. “None.”

“I will find a way to beat him.”

Richard left, picking up the mop he always left outside my door.

He came by every night asking for more visions, more options, until finally I felt the dread of danger. He was getting ready. “He keeps catching us sooner, now,” I tell Richard. “He’s getting closer.”

Richard paced my room, slight twitches of his hands the only signal that he was thinking. Then the stopped directly in front of me. “I have an idea.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes. “Become a vampire. I will turn you.”

“Richard, I don’t know.”

“See if it works. That’s all I am asking.”

I saw Richard biting me in the next moment, stuffing me away somewhere on the asylum grounds, fighting the hunter.

“He’s coming now.” I look up at him, my heart exploding in my chest. So low I don’t know if he can hear it, I whispered. “Do it.”

The pain came.

I thought the pain of therapy was death, but this was beyond death. This was hell. Fire, pure fire. Everywhere.

Once the pain subsided, I laid perfectly still. It was over. Whatever it was, it was over. Slowly I opened my eyes. The walls were covered in tools. A small unused cook-stove was in a corner. Shovels were pushed into another.

The pain gone, I stood and opened the door to the pitch of night.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, just getting back on the writing horse so this might be a little rough around the edges. If you see anything that needs work or want to tell me what you think of this, please leave a comment.


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